The Blowfish Blog

Eastside Story

No, despite my initial hopes, Eastside Story is not a porn spoof of the 1957 Broadway musical (and 1961 film) West Side Story (an early version of which was, coincidentally, titled East Side Story), which was itself a modern take on Romeo and Juliet. It is instead a surprising and charming bit of cinema verite porn, featuring interviews with porn performers followed by fairly straightforward sex scenes, though the actors are mostly tattooed and pierced, in keeping with the “Vivid Alt” aesthetic.

The “Eastside” bit comes from the ostensible setting of East Los Angeles, a famously multicultural area, and it is a relatively ethnically diverse cast. Maybe because it’s a Vivid Alt movie and not a glossier mainstream release, the interviews with the performers are a little more interesting and off-kilter than the usual interviews you might see in behind-the-scenes features. These are interesting people — more interesting than you probably realize — notably including a former stockbroker and multilingual male performer (Tyler Knight) and a self-described MILF with a mohawk who used to be a neuroscience researcher (Michelle Aston), plus the expected ex-strippers, a former cab driver, and Spanish beauty Rebeca Linares who, one assumes, has never needed any employment other than being absolutely gorgeous. The interviews are mostly brief — often too brief! I would have loved to hear more from Roxy Devile, who did a hilarious impromptu reenactment of a “romantic” porn scene she did in another film, complete with breathless simpering and cooing and wide-eyed longing; she concluded by sitting up, smacking her gum, and saying “That’s some couples-friendly shit right there.” As for the sex, it ranges from great (Rebeca Linares and Tyler Knight set the screen on fire) to the, well, merely interesting (mohawked Michele Aston and cutie Page Morgan make a remarkable visual contrast together, but despite the involvement of various vibrators and anal toys and some smeared make-up, the scene never really comes together in terms of personal chemistry).

Though the director Vena Virago comes from an arts and arts installation background, this wasn’t a terribly artsy film, apart from the opening credits montage of grungy East L.A. locales. There’s a whole bonus disc with behind the scenes footage, outtakes, interviews, and — one of the strangest extras I’ve ever seen — experimental short film “Chicken Porn Wonder” which is better seen than described. There’s also a soundtrack CD. It’s quite a package.

• Eastside Story

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, 11 July 2007 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.